Finally!

Yeah, vacation posting got derailed again, this time by Tropical Storm Irene, who knocked out our power for 56 hours.  Just enough time to make us throw out food.  Sigh.

But we're back up and running as of about 6:00 last night, so in between loads of laundry, I'll do my best to catch up...

From the family reunion in upstate New York, we drove to southwestern PA.  I have to brag a little bit about our awesome son, who dealt very well with about 7 hours of car travel.  There was a little whining, certainly - after all, he was strapped in to the car seat, without even the ability to change position, but he was remarkably good.  It helped that the Pennsylvania Turnpike was under construction, so there were plenty of dump trucks, cranes, excavators, and such.

When we arrived at Uncle Rick and Aunt Lin's house, Asa was shy for a few minutes, until Uncle Rick mentioned that he owns a tractor.  All shyness dissolved as they walked hand-in-hand out to the shed.

After that, Asa made himself right at home, enjoying both the space for running, and the smooth patio for drawing, and the wealth of toys at his Aunt and Uncle's house.

Almost as fun for Mommy and Mummy was watching Mummy's family fall in love with Asa.

The feeling was mutual, although Asa was a little tired and cranky during our afternoon of visiting.  With Uncle Rick and Aunt Lin, however, Asa was head-over-heels.

And that was before the pre-birthday celebratory cupcake, with included candle-blowing lessons.  (Lessons included, "don't kiss the candle, blow on it!")

When we left, Asa was begging to have his Aunt and Uncle get in the car and come with us.  We promise another visit, sooner than later.  Maybe we can convince Granna and Pap Pap to come, too?